Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro quietly updated
Filed under: Laptops
Update: The MacBook Pro can now be configured with an optional 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo for a $250 premium over the previous 2.4GHz flag-ship configuration.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Update: The MacBook Pro can now be configured with an optional 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo for a $250 premium over the previous 2.4GHz flag-ship configuration.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Privacy Groups Mull 'Do Not Track' List for Internet
Technical Writing Geek writes with a Reuters story about a collection of privacy groups looking to set up a 'Do Not Track' list online, similar to the 'Do Not Call' list meant to dissuade telemarketing. "Computer users should be notified when their Web surfing is tracked by online advertisers and Web publishers, argue the Consumer Federation of America, the World Privacy Forum and the Center for Democracy and Technology, among other groups in a coalition promoting the idea. Rather than burying privacy policies in fine print, companies should also disclose them more fully and provide easier ways to opt out, the groups said. The organizations submitted the proposals to the Federal Trade Commission, ahead of the consumer watchdog agency's workshop on Nov. 1-2 to study the increasing use of tracking technology to target online ads.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
More Facebook Music Rumors
i think Facebook might just buy iLike, especially with Microsoft money ... :-)
According to CO-ED's executive editor Stephen Gebhardt, who says he heard it from a group of marketing managers at a major music label, Facebook has been holding secret meetings with all the music labels and will announce Facebook Music next week at New York's ad:tech conference (where it is also expected to announce its social ad network).
Here are the details Gebhardt was able to gather: Facebook Music will essentially be a way for musicians (or their labels) to create their own fan pages just like on MySpace, each with a separate sub-domain within Facebook. Facebook members will be able to join any artist's network as a "fan." This will be similar to joining a group, but centered around music. Members will be able to listen to streamed songs, watch videos, add music to their own pages, find out about upcoming tours, and meet other fans. Facebook is also supposedly working on sales widgets for these pages (to be introduced at a later date) so that artists can sell downloads directly through Facebook. (Watch out iTunes).
MySpace, Apple, Google . . . who will Facebook pick a fight with next?
Ad Infuse Continues to Grow
Ad Infuse thinks that the future of mobile advertising will be more personalized than mass market oriented. By bringing together carriers, brands, content providers and consumers, Ad Infuse specifically targets consumers, so advertisements can be more cost efficient than the old impersonalized advertising method.
"Advertising on the mobile device is a new frontier," said Brian Cowley, CEO of Ad Infuse. "Companies that do it right can increase consumer loyalty, build revenues and extend "brand awareness. Ad Infuse creates a customer-centric mobile environment where people can connect to and interact with the brands that define their lives."
I'm not sure if it is fair to say that advertising on mobile phones is a new frontier. In this quick tempo technological world, if an idea has been around for more than a few months it starts to get the label of being old. This probably isn't fair but some people feel the need to criticize a good idea they didn't think of. Specifically targeting individuals or small groups of people, with specially tailored advertisements may be the future of advertising not only on mobile devices and computers, but also in other media formats. I can see a time when two different television sets in two different houses in the same neighborhood are tuned to the same show, but different advertisements are watched by each household.
Real-Time Videoconferencing for Today’s Mobile Phone
"Video has created enormous business opportunities on the Web, but the high cost and low quality of video on today's cell phones has hindered the adoption of mobile video consumption, real-time video reporting and mobile videoconferencing," said Rob Lerner, COO of KT-Tech Inc. "We are aiming to lower the barriers to adoption of mobile video by enabling high-quality video on today's handsets, over today's cellular networks."
KT-Tech reveals its videoconferencing application today at the 2007 CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment convention which is being held in San Francisco on October 23-25. If you are at the convention stop by Booth #112 and look at KT-Tech's product for me. Leave a message in the comments section of this MobileCrunch post and give your opinion as pertaining to the quality of the video and audio, and whatever thoughts you may have.
Google's Plans for a Social API
NewsCloud writes "After tonight's Breaking Open Facebook with Free Open Source Software, TechCrunch reports Google plans to announce an open API for social networking tomorrow. "OpenSocial is a set of three common APIs, defined by Google with input from partners, that allow developers to access core functions and information at social networks: 1) Profile Information (user data) 2) Friends Information (social graph) and 3) Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)" Says Om Malik: "OpenSocial attacks Facebook where it is the weakest (and the strongest): its quintessential closed nature...Even if you take Facebook out of the equation, the task of writing and adapting widgets for the every increasing number of social platforms was going to be turn into a colossal mess.""
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Drop that Tilt: HTC releases WM6 upgrade for AT&T 8525
from Engadget by
Filed under: Cellphones
Western Digital Ships 320GB 2.5-Inch Drives for Laptops [Storage]
Free Documents at DocStoc [Document Sharing]
docstoc [via Download Squad]
Samsung A737 Ultra-Thin Slider Unveiled for AT&T
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AT&T today unveiled the Samsung A737, an ultra-thin sliding phone with accelerated multimedia and entertainment features. The A737 offers Video Share, AT&T Mobile Music, stereo Bluetooth 2.0 technology, a 1.3-megapixel camera with video record, external memory microSD cards up to 4GB and advanced messaging options. The sliding design allows for a larger screen, which is ideal for browsing, reviewing photos and Video Share calling.
Users can share one-way live video while participating in a voice call. Both customers must be in an area served by the company's 3G network and have a Video Share-enabled phone. Users can also send messages to friends and families any way they choose with Text Messaging, Mobile Email, AOL, Yahoo! and Windows Live Instant Messaging.
AT&T Mobile Music allows customers to use Napster and eMusic to load music on the handset. The A737 supports over-the-air music downloads through eMusic Mobile, and other services including Music ID, XM Radio, music video viewing, The Buzz music news portal and more.
Inside the A737, users will have 3G connectivity to AT&T's network in more than 170 major metropolitan areas across the U.S. Data coverage outside 3G service areas is available via AT&T's nationwide1 EDGE network. AT&T's EDGE network is available in more than 13,000 cities and towns and along some 40,000 miles of major highways.
NBC Universal Hires SinglePoint
from MobileCrunch by
SinglePoint will be developing and managing large-scale, cross carrier iTV messaging events for multiple properties across NBC Universal including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, USA, NBC Sports, NBC News, iVillage and venue-related activities for Universal theme parks.
"In today's competitive TV environment, we constantly evaluate how new technologies can better engage viewers and, ultimately, build stronger relationships with them," said Jon Dakss, Vice President of Technology Product Development for NBC Universal. "SinglePoint stands apart in the increasingly critical mobile segment thanks to their ability to manage the entire participation media process - from connectivity to carrier relations to client services. Working with SinglePoint will allow us to strengthen our market leadership, as well as win and maintain the loyalty of our viewers."
"There is no question that the wireless industry has given new meaning to participation media by adding entertainment, social and economic value to some of today's most popular TV programs," said Rich Begert, President and CEO of SinglePoint. "We can not express enough how extremely pleased we are to work with NBC Universal and drive the mobile component of their leading franchises. Our tools empower customers to drive growth, connect to end-users and enhance viewing experiences. We expect this strategic partnership will set a new bar for participation media in the U.S."
For decades television viewing has been criticized as being a totally passive activity that at the very least leads to lazy thinking. I have always thought that it isn't if you watch T.V. but what you watch and how you watch it that is important. A service like the one SinglePoint is providing for NBC will make viewers feel like they are part of the show, which has the potential for generating more viewer loyalty. By actively engaging with content, viewers' minds will be more engaged and stimulated then if they watch the content without an outlet for expressing an opinion.
Sopogy, Small Scale Solar Thermal Raising Cash
Honolulu-based Sopogy thinks there is a market for lil' solar thermal and the 5-year-old company is in the process of raising a $9 million Series B round, which Sopogy CEO Darren Kimura tells us is already 80% committed.
The company has already raised $3 million from investors Energy Industry Holdings, Kolohala Holdings, and Tradewinds Capital Management, and has a $10 million commitment in revenue bonds from the state of Hawaii to build and operate a solar plant in the company's home state.
Most solar thermal technology uses mirrors to concentrate rays onto tubes of liquid that in turn can power turbines. Several startups like Ausra, Solel, and BrightSource are working on large-scale solar thermal power plants.
Sopogy, on the other hand, says it has reduced the manufacturing process of its collectors so that the technology is lower cost and easier to install than larger solar thermal systems, and delivers on a scale in the single megawatts. CNET says each individual collector produces 500 watts, but that the collectors can be strung to together for more wattage.
We're not sure how the economics will eventually play out, or if industrial and commercial sites will look to this technology for an answer to clean energy. But the startup is testing its technology at the utility Avista's Clean Energy Test Site and is working on getting a 1 megawatt solar system up and running in Hawaii. The company says that Hawaii's "highest electricity rates in the US" give its technologies "a competitive marketplace to develop and mature."
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Cookie tracking: How Facebook could be worth $100 billion?
By Eric Eldon 10.29.07
The cookies can then be used to serve users contextually relevant ads on other sites, as those users surf across the web.
This could be how Facebook's $15 billion valuation implied by Microsoft's investment last week will start to make sense.
Lee Lorenzen, of Altura Ventures and Facebook application company Adonomics, cites sources in Microsoft and Facebook as well as other developers during a long essay on the possibility of Facebook using cookies to track users, while AllFacebook confirms the rumor.
A Facebook user, for example, who's a 26-year-old male and lists that he likes beer in his Facebook profile might get served an ad for a beer company when he goes to check his favorite team's scores on an outside sports site.
Cookies are pieces of data containing information about web pages that users look at, that are stored in the user's web browser by sites. Facebook already uses cookies to recognize existing users as they return to its site for a new session, so they don't have to login every time. The difference going forward would be that the cookies could be used by to track users beyond Facebook's site.
What we don't know is whether Facebook would control the cookie data (forcing other sites to partner with Facebook, by opening their pages to advertising wanting to access the platform) or whether Facebook would license the data away to another network willing to pay big bucks, for example a BlueLithium or Tacoda..
Krishna Subramanian of BlueLithium, an ad-targeting company recently bought by Yahoo for $300 million, tells us the addition of social data to ad networks can greatly improve the value of banner advertising.
Cookies help advertisers target ads to individual Facebook users, because these cookies reportedly could automatically identify each Facebook user as they surf the web, and then serve advertising relevant to their stated interests on Facebook.
Advertisers would be able to clearly see interests in beer and other such personal information for 50 million Facebook users, for the first time. Right now, the ad networks record actions like surfing or clicking, but lack specific data about what you're actually trying to accomplish through your actions. There aren't many places besides a Facebook profile where the average young man will write "I like to drink beer" next to their name.
Cookie-tracking technology is already in place at ad networks such as aQuantive, a company bought by Microsoft earlier this year.
CPMs, or the amount of money gained per thousand views of an advertisement, are low on social networks — as low as $0.10 per thousand impressions. The people who would benefit most: Vertical advertisers like beverage makers, Subramanian tells us. While he notes not every type of advertiser may benefit, some may be willing to pay CPM rates that are double what they are paying now.
Microsoft's strategic investment in Facebook means it not only has the chance to play with the company's rich and untapped data set, it gets to keep it away from Google.
Lorenzen has previously claimed that Facebook could be worth up to $100 billion because of its ability to drive relevant online advertising. Others scoff at his valuation.
The rumor of a highly-targeted Facebook ad network has been going at least since August ( our coverage here).
Guess Who Makes the World’s Fastest Windows Vista Laptop
According to PC World benchmarks, the fastest Windows Vista notebook they they've ever tested is the MacBook Pro from Apple.
This 17″ Apple notebook is not just the fastest Vista computer, it is also the lightest 17-inch notebook available at 6.6 pounds and just 1 inch thick. Wish there was a Tablet version of the MacBook.
Last year, Gearlog dubbed Apple MacBook Pro as the fastest Windows XP Core Duo notebook in the market. Thanks David.
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